What is Father’s Day?
Just like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is a day to celebrate fatherhood and appreciate fathers for their roles in our lives. This day is celebrated by almost everyone on the third Sunday every June while some Catholic parts of Europe and Latin America celebrate it on 19 March. Australia celebrates this day on the first Sunday of September. Father’s Day in 2018 falls on the 17th of June.
This day has two different forms of origination. One is that of St. Joseph, the seeming father of Jesus Christ in whose honour the Catholic people celebrated this day on the 19th of March as the Feast of St Joseph. So the Portuguese and Spanish brought in this tradition into the US.
Another origination was 1908 when a mining disaster in a place called Monogah caused the death of almost 361 men out of which 250 were fathers. A daughter named Grace Clayton also mourning her father suggested that they all honour the dead fathers. Father’s Day was officially recognised only in 1972.
When is Father’s Day?
The following is the date that this Father’s Day has fallen in the past years and will fall in the coming ones.
| Year | Father’s Day (Date) |
| 2017 | Sunday, June 18, 2017 |
| 2018 | Sunday, June 17, 2018 |
| 2019 | Sunday, June 16, 2019 |
| 2020 | Sunday, June 21, 2020 |
A Brief History of how Father’s Day came to be
The history of Father’s Day began from the Catholic people celebrating Jesus’s putative father St. Joseph. While many Catholic places in Europe and Latin America still mark this day on the ancient date of March 19, the rest of the world mostly celebrates it on the third Sunday of June.
In the US, the first attempt at celebrating father’s day was on July 5th, 1908, when 360 men were killed in a mining accident in Virginia out of whom 250 were fathers. A sermon was held in honour of all the fathers as a suggestion from Grace Clayton, but it did not gain any popularity.
After Grace, many others like Jane Adams, Harry C and Methodist Church tried to popularise this day and give it national recognition but did not succeed. Finally, in 1910, the celebration caught some attention when Sonora Smart Dodd heard the sermon of Anna Jarvis (the woman who popularised mother’s day) and wanted a similar idea to celebrate father’s keeping her father who raised six children all by himself, in her mind. She wanted the day to be observed on June 5th, but the pastors could get it ready only by the third Sunday.
In 1913, Congress passed the bill recognising the day, but it was only made official in 1972 by President Richard Nixon.
- Suggested Read – When is President’s Day 2018?
Rose, the official flower of Father’s Day
Just as Carnations are the flower of Mother’s Day, roses are the ones for Father’s Day. This flower was chosen by Sonora Smart Dodd. A red rose is worn in honour of the father if he is alive and a white rose if the father has passed.
Traditions of Father’s Day
- In Germany, Father’s Day is celebrated with men going for male-activities and drink beer all day with their friends while the wife’s take care of the kids
- In Thailand, the tradition on Father’s Day was to wear yellow and give yellow flowers to the fathers
- In South Africa, fathers and their children go on a fishing trip
- Fathers get to sleep in while the family makes his favourite food
- Children also gift their Father handmade gifts and cards
- One of the most famous and beloved gifts to give your father on Father’s Day is a Necktie
Facts about Father’s Day
- The very first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1908
- The gap between the first Father’s Day and when it was made official was almost 60 years
- Many Catholic countries celebrate Father’s Day on March 19
- Roses are the symbol of Father’s Day
- More than 72 million cards are sent around the world on Father’s Day
- An Indian named Ramajit Raghav is the oldest father in the world. He became a father to a boy at 96 years of age, and the world’s youngest father is an 11-year-old from New Zealand